The Kauai Bus will buy eight new diesel buses, thanks to a $975,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration, Kauai County announced today.

The county will provide $243,000 in the 80/20 matching-fund ratio, bringing the total amount available to buy the vehicles to about $1.2 million.

The new buses will replace aging buses in the county transit fleet. The money is coming from a U.S. Department of Transportation program called the State of Good Repair Initiative.

The county plans to buy three large buses for main routes and five smaller buses for shuttles and para-transit service. These buses are expected to be in service by the end of next year.

“We truly appreciate the support of our congressional delegation as it was largely through their efforts that Kaua’i received the State of Good Repair grant,” Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. said in a news release. “This grant will allow us to put new buses on our routes that will improve the reliability of our transit services, as well as reduce the expense of frequent repairs required with older vehicles.”

The Kauai Bus operates weekdays from 5:15 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. For more information, go to www.kauai.gov and click on the purple “Transportation” link at the top of the page.